Edit This Favorite

Welcome Message from 2018 President

President’s Message

Michael Dern, AIA

Thank you for electing me as your 2017 Vice President and this year’s 2018 President.Another thank you to our outgoing Board Members: Shohreh Khodabakhshi, and David Regester, AIA. My final thank you goes to Michelle Ney, AIA. Your leadership and wisdom on the Board of Directors brought another successful year to the Chapter and from all of us on the 2017 Board, and we look forward to having you as our Past-President!

A successful Board Retreat at Testarossa Winery on December 1st proves we are continuing our mission to serve the members, the profession and enhance the built environment. This year we are working toward creating value as thought leaders for our community to build a better Silicon Valley.

We are excited to host the Architecture Intelligence Conference on March 23 at the San Jose Convention Center. This event is being developed by our Women in Architecture and COTE (Committee on the Environment) Committees.Save the date for a very exciting and educational packed day. Our Key Note Speakers are Marsha Maytum, FAIA of Leddy Maytum Stacey Architects, and Peter Calthorpe of Calthorpe Associates. We have created a separate site for this conference and will update it as our agenda takes shape.Check out the site at www.architecturalintelligence.org.

May 5 is the Fourth Annual Silicon Valley Home Tours. With our Custom Residential Architects Network (CRAN) and our local residential architecture firms we will represent the showcase of home tours in the Silicon Valley. We are currently accepting entries for consideration for our Home Tour. Please note submissions are due by January 12!

We have an active Emerging Professionals group. Their ambitions are a reminder that our professional future is important. Through mentorship, a learn by doing approach, and creating opportunities we can provide a recipe for success now and in the next generation. Building Tours, continuing education, workshops, advocacy within our community, and licensing exam training will continue our baseline for offerings within the Chapter. Participate in these events and if you like to join a committee, your contributions are welcomed.

Lastly, I am sad to inform our members that April Becerra, our Executive Director has accepted a new position and will be leaving in mid February. April has been a valuable contributor to our success these past four years and although we will very much miss her ideas and enthusiasm, we are excited for her in this new endeavor.

We have created a search committee and have begun our outreach efforts and the board will be kept up to date on the milestones as they progress. Meanwhile, if you know of anybody who may be a good fit as our new Executive Director, please let me or any of the board members know.

I look forward to serving as your 2018 President and have a wonderful and prosperous year!